my employer has told us shunters that we have to put our digi card into a rigid to move it 100 yards,can anyone shed some light on the subject for me,also we all opted out of the WTD & not sure on the law governing this.
ive been having to shunt on my card for about 3 months now…no matter how short the distance.our yard is not very big as yards go but even to pull a van off the dock and move it about 20 yards it has to get the card…i do 20 plus card swaps on an average night…if i do a printout its half a roll of paper!
as for the wtd if you are a mobile worker you cant opt out of the wtd…i think it depends if you go on the road aswell?i do a run every now and then as well as shunt…if you never go on road you may get away with not being classed as mobile?
Well our company are a stickler for the rules but the shunters do not insert their card if they have to move a vehicle.
few months ago one of our drivers was pulled by VOSA & when his card & tacho was all looked at there was extra kms on the vehicle tacho the driver couldn’t account for , but knew it had been loaded by the yard shunter, but VOSA then asked him if he could prove it wasn’t him working off the card , so maybe it’s more to do with keeping the vehicles kms accounted for
I dont think you can opt out however you may have a collective agreement to opt out of the night diving 10hour rule
MolePower:
few months ago one of our drivers was pulled by VOSA & when his card & tacho was all looked at there was extra kms on the vehicle tacho the driver couldn’t account for , but knew it had been loaded by the yard shunter, but VOSA then asked him if he could prove it wasn’t him working off the card , so maybe it’s more to do with keeping the vehicles kms accounted for
why would the driver account for the kms? its not his vehicle so its not his responsibility to account for its movements when he is between shifts
scanny77:
MolePower:
few months ago one of our drivers was pulled by VOSA & when his card & tacho was all looked at there was extra kms on the vehicle tacho the driver couldn’t account for , but knew it had been loaded by the yard shunter, but VOSA then asked him if he could prove it wasn’t him working off the card , so maybe it’s more to do with keeping the vehicles kms accounted forwhy would the driver account for the kms? its not his vehicle so its not his responsibility to account for its movements when he is between shifts
i don’t know , but then i’ve never been asked to prove i haven’t been working off the card either 
This is the daftest thing ive heard in a while
MolePower:
scanny77:
MolePower:
few months ago one of our drivers was pulled by VOSA & when his card & tacho was all looked at there was extra kms on the vehicle tacho the driver couldn’t account for , but knew it had been loaded by the yard shunter, but VOSA then asked him if he could prove it wasn’t him working off the card , so maybe it’s more to do with keeping the vehicles kms accounted forwhy would the driver account for the kms? its not his vehicle so its not his responsibility to account for its movements when he is between shifts
i don’t know , but then i’ve never been asked to prove i haven’t been working off the card either
Its quite difficult to prove a negative (or something you havent done). Its upto VOSA to prove you HAVE worked off the card, surely.
merc0447:
This is the daftest thing ive heard in a while
can only tell you what was told to me by the driver who was stopped
Utter tripe, there is no requirement to use your card for shunting. If you are still classed as a mobile worker you need to account for time spent in the yard by making appropriate manual chart traces/entries. If I have to pop a vehicle to Volvo I make the appropriate entries for that day, if I dont go out then I draw battlements on the back of a paper chart. Obviously this doesn’t account for a particular company insisting on their shunters doing this.
I have asked this question before - and the reply is below:
tachograph:
In weeks when you drive in-scope of EU regulations none driving days (shunting) should be recorded on either a tachograph chart or printout, you only need to record the date, start and finish times and your name.
Note what tacho said - only need to record the date, start and finish times and your name. - - no manual entries required 
Private yard. Not classed as the public highway is it, so no legall requirement to say you have to use a card or go by any driving rules what so ever. You don’t even have to have a license, I’m sure half or nearly all of the people on here shunted round yards as a kid or before they gained their class 1 for experience.
Look at it in another way, we have a 15 year old ERF no electrical suzies, no tax, not insured, all tyres are bald, no rear lights and no windscreen. Is that illegal for shunting round a private yard?? NO!!!
MolePower:
merc0447:
This is the daftest thing ive heard in a whilecan only tell you what was told to me by the driver who was stopped
I suspect the driver was talking ■■■■■■■■. I know that may come as a shock but it does happen occasionally. 
A driver does not have to prove anything to VOSA. All they have to do is produce their card, if they have one, any charts covering 29 days and any required printouts for the period. If VOSA suspect that doesn’t give a correct picture it is up to them to pursue it and find proof. It is very easy to see from the data when the vehicle was moved without a card inserted and that would be outside the shifts recorded on the drivers card.
shunter1:
my employer has told us shunters that we have to put our digi card into a rigid to move it 100 yards,can anyone shed some light on the subject for me
Indeed I can. They are your employers and if they want you do do something, whether that is use a digi card to move a vehicle, wear purple underpants every second Thursday or whistle a happy tune while you work, you simply have two choices. One choice will no doubt lead to continued employment, the other might not.
I trust this clarifies matters for you.
starfighter:
Utter tripe, there is no requirement to use your card for shunting. If you are still classed as a mobile worker you need to account for time spent in the yard by making appropriate manual chart traces/entries. If I have to pop a vehicle to Volvo I make the appropriate entries for that day, if I dont go out then I draw battlements on the back of a paper chart. Obviously this doesn’t account for a particular company insisting on their shunters doing this.
indeed…it is not a legal requirement…but my boss insists on it?..the groups trainer had never heard of this and said that it was as we said a pointless excersise…its just a silly idea the desk jockey has dreampt up,but as the last poster said…hes calling the shots.
Coffeeholic:
MolePower:
merc0447:
This is the daftest thing ive heard in a whilecan only tell you what was told to me by the driver who was stopped
I suspect the driver was talking ■■■■■■■■. I know that may come as a shock but it does happen occasionally.
It wouldn’t have been the first time ! 
I too thought it was a bit strange , but stranger things have happened , ive once been asked to produce the blank but used scribe card from the second drivers part of the tacho as well 
Question ;
Some nights our trucks are loaded by mill staff who have no license,fair enough, but other nights we have a dedicated night loader, who does cover holidays , rest days & if needed if for instance he comes in & runs a load out then comes back later to load lorries. Would the time spent shunting not be classed as driving time ? even though he’d not leave the yard again that night ?
If i load my trailer in the morning ,then procede to deliver it ,that time spend going to & from the weighbridge is part of my daily driving time , so i would assume so would his.
I came across a similar sort of query recently because invariably at the start of the shift, after putting the card in you get a ‘driving without card’ message which you have to cancel, and so, accept. The reason is because the units are often parked blocking others in so you have to re-park them & so hence the message. A few drivers had queried it with transport & their answer was that, in theory, you had to put in your card even if you did only move it a few feet, but as that was impractical, to ignore it, and if there was ever a VOSA query then they would sort it out.
shunter1:
‘…my employer … told us shunters … we have to put our digi card into a rigid to move it … & not sure on the law governing this…’
Why not ask your MP - and add “who in this small, island nation wanted the EU to force this undemocratically inappropriate and unsuitable bolleaux upon us?”
For the price of a pint (or 0.5 of a litre) I’ll bet that your MP endorses such confusion through their party manifesto, though they’ll wriggle, squirm, likely lie otherwise and still not know the answer to your question or where to easily find it.
shunter1:
‘… yards…’
Enjoy them before we’re compelled to use metres.
How can it be necessary or even possible to use a digi-card to move a vehicle a few yards on private land if you don’t even have a licence? This is (allegedly) what happens at our place when the loaders need to move vehicles around. Makes me wonder about insurance though as although it’s private land, it is open (but not entirely welcoming) to the public.
I do like those wrecks of MOT failure classic tractors just used for shunting - very economical to run, especially on red diesel. Unfortunately we don’t use one and of course use DERV for heating at night.